Calvin College receives $375,622 state grant to help clean up Plaster Creek

MLive.comIn this 2011 photo, Calvin College junior Emily Huizenga carries a tree across a small tributary to Plaster Creek. Calvin College faculty and students working with churches and business groups to improve the quality of Plaster Creek. An EPA grant will help fund a 3-year restoration plan.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Calvin College has received a $375,622 state grant to strengthen cleanup efforts in the Plaster Creek watershed, long one of the region’s most polluted streams.

The grant, from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, will be used for community education efforts, faculty and student research, and to reduce storm water running into the creek.

Calvin, which sits partly in the 58-square-mile Plaster Creek watershed, has been involved in efforts to restore the creek over the past several years.

Calvin faculty from were among the founders of Plaster Creek Stewards, a group whose members also include the West Michigan Environmental Action Council and a growing group of churches from within the watershed, according to Calvin. In 2011, the group received a $58,000 federal grant.

Nathan Haan, a staff member at Calvin’s Biology department, said the grant’s emphasis on education is crucial.

"It's not the kind of problem you can fix by doing a couple of rain gardens, it's not that simple," Haan said of the condition of the watershed. “It's got to be a transformation of how we think about and manage storm water throughout the whole watershed, and that requires a long-term effort."

As part of the grant, Calvin faculty and students will create “four large-scale bioswale infiltration projects” within the watershed. Bioswales are natural areas, typically equipped with a variety of vegetation, that absorb and filter storm water before it enters a body of water.

“It will take many years to restore Plaster Creek,” said Gail Heffner, who oversees Calvin’s community engagement efforts. “The watershed is so damaged. But, with lots of people working together, we can make change happen.”
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